About

$42,492

121

The Afterburner is a 38.9 inch, twin-tip longboard with a 28.5 inch wheelbase. It has wheel to wheel camber and drop through mounts for a lower stance and more stable ride with responsive turning.

The cutouts in the tip and tail of the Afterburner allow you to mount the trucks to the top of the board. This brings the board lower to the ground and provides a more stable ride.

The Afterburner has a .60 inch camber from the truck mounting holes to the center of the board. This camber creates a spring like affect and powers your ride, allowing you to pump and carve from turn to turn.

Just inward from the wheel cutouts the deck flares up on the edges. The flare allows you to turn sharper with lower risk for wheel-bite and locks your feet into place while you are initiating slides and turns.

These precision cutouts let you easily feel and know the position of your feet on the board without having to look down, allowing you to keep your eyes forward and prepare for your next turn or slide.

The Afterburner has a molded concave shape to make sure your feet stay locked in while riding yet remain extremely comfortable.

Both the carbon fiber and the resin system used in the boards is unlike anything else available. It is literally the same material used in the structures of modern rockets and spacecraft as it is upcycled from those production lines. The layup used in this board ensures that there is the necessary amount of lateral and torsional strength.

By changing the layup schedule we can tailor the feel and ride of the board for specific weights. We are offering 2 flex levels that can accommodate any rider’s weight and style. Flex 1 (95-195 lbs) is tailored to lighter weight riders or riders who enjoy more pumping and carving. Flex 2 (170-270+ lbs) is for heavier riders or riders looking for more stability at higher speeds.

Each one of our boards is put through extreme testing to make sure we only ship the highest quality and properly characterized boards.

We're very proud to say that we continue to source the highest quality components from right here in the US. Our completes come with Randal III 180mm trucks that are cast in Southern California. Both Sharkwheels and Fireball wheels are poured in Southern California and are great for carving and sliding. Even our Oust Bearings are made in the US.

Our mission at 121C is to eliminate the carbon fiber scrap problem for the commercial spaceflight industry. They contribute a large portion of the over 10 million pounds of carbon fiber that is landfilled each year. Ever since we started our goal was, and still is, to deliver the coolest and most advanced carbon fiber skateboards, while also doing something good for the environment and our future.

We launched our first board, the Aileron, on Kickstarter in the summer of 2015. It was the first board made entirely from material that was discarded from the production lines of modern spacecraft and rockets. The following year we launched the Rover, a smaller, more portable board, yet super durable.

For both those campaigns the Kickstarter community was amazing, we love you, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without you! The comments and feedback we’ve gotten on our boards has been incredible, and the support has helped push us further and take us places we never thought possible.

We get a lot of different suggestions and requests for new boards that we should add to our line-up, and we wish we could make them all, but the one we hear most often is to develop a pure carbon fiber freestyle longboard.

So, after months of design, testing and making improvements, we are proud to introduce the Afterburner.

Earlier this summer, as we were finalizing the shape of the Afterburner, we started to think about what graphic we would put on the board. We didn't have any solid ideas so we decided to do something new. We realized that there are a lot of awesome, talented people out there that follow us or have one, or more, of our boards, and we wanted to give them a chance to design a graphic for the Afterburner.

We launched a contest to find the best design for the board, with the winning designer getting one of the first Afterburners we ship. We received over 25 designs and we selected our top 5 favorites, now it is up to you, the Kickstarter community, our followers, the designers and family and friends to select the winning design.

The winning design will be available as an option on your backer survey once our campaign finishes.

Our previous successful Kickstarter campaigns have helped us build a skate company that has shipped over 2000 boards. Getting to this point had involved over coming some real challenges. The most frustrating one was trying to scale up our production but finding a lot of inconsistencies with the cutting and drilling that we outsourced to other shops. We would get parts back with misaligned holes or edges that were out of alignment. This caused delays in filling some orders, but we are 100% committed to shipping only the highest quality product. The support of our past Kickstarters has allowed us to make significant investments in a new, larger facility, and equipment, specifically a CNC controlled waterjet cutter.

We purchased a used waterjet cutter we found online and spent a month to get it installed, fixed up and running properly.

We are now able to cut the board profile and pierce the holes in a single, automated process, which guarantees proper alignment and eliminates the need for manual drilling. It also allowed us to bring this work back in-house, removing the cost, time and transportation associated with using outside vendors.

Having this capability in-house also allows us to easily set up new shapes for prototyping and design work. This was a huge help in developing the Afterburner and getting it absolutely perfect.

As we scale we're able to progress further and further on our upcycling mission. We're determined to eliminate landfill waste so even the protective backing paper that comes on the carbon is used as packing material or sent for recycling.

The next process we want to bring in-house is manufacturing the press tools that we use to make the boards. We currently use aluminum tools that are made by an outside sand casting company. This process is time consuming and expensive.

We are developing our own, unique process that uses alternative materials which will allow us to cast our own tools for a fraction of the cost.

Ryan and Jayson prepping to test the new tooling tech by creating an Aileron tool set

An important component in this process is a CNC router. This is needed to cut the detailed tooling patterns and create the molds that we will use to cast the press tools.

Now, we are back on Kickstarter to make that possible. With your help we will be able to finish developing this new process which will greatly reduce the time it takes to develop and make the boards you want us to make.

We are incredibly excited to continue sharing this project with you. We are stoked about the progress we are making in our mission of reducing carbon fiber waste from landfills, and doing our part to help our exciting future in space. Check out our campaign rewards below and find the board that's right for you!

To help us on our mission to continue upcycling carbon scrap and coming out with new boards we've created these rewards. All reward options including wheels, flexes and graphics will be recorded by the surveys we send out once the campaign wraps up.

This size comparison depicts each of our boards to scale. The Rover is 22 inches long, the Aileron is 31 inches long and the Afterburner is 39 inches long.

We developed this deck to the extreme, and we can't wait to hear your feedback on how fun it is to ride!

We didn't want to leave out the new Afterburner, so we are offering this in Kevlar as well. Don't wait because quantities are limited.

This afterburner is complete with our favorite set up. It comes with the brand new Randal III 180 mm trucks and Oust bearings. You'll be able to choose between 70mm Fireball Incendos or 70mm Sharkwheels.

This is our personal favorite, get the coolest board that is ready to ride.

Last year when we launched the Rover, one of our backers, Chris Graf developed this incredible "Jupiter Mission" design for the board. We're excited that we can offer this special edition Rover to all of you! You can check out his portfolio at http://chrisgraf.de

The OG Aileron is finally available in Kevlar. These are only available in limited quantities so don't wait to get yours.

Don't stop with just a Kevlar Aileron deck, get a complete with your choice of Shark or Fireball wheels.

Each one of our amazing boards for an incredible deal!

Each one of our boards complete with the perfect set up for one amazing deal!

Founder, CEO: Ryan Olliges is an Aerospace Engineering graduate from the University of
Southern California. During his freshman year he joined the Rocket Propulsion Lab and soon
realized how much unused carbon fiber is sent to the landfill during the manufacture of rockets and
spacecraft. As someone who loves the outdoors and the environment, Ryan immediately set
about finding a solution to this problem. He also served as Lead Composite Engineer and CFO
while working in the Rocket Lab.

Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer: Greg Autry, MBA, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California. He is a researcher on space entrepreneurship, commercial space economics and space policy, and served as White House liaison with NASA. Greg is also a serial entrepreneur and is active in supporting American manufacturing.

Industry Expert and Spokesperson: Michael López-Alegría is a former Naval aviator and
one of America’s most experienced astronauts. He flew on Space Shuttle missions STS-73,
STS-92, and STS-113, as well as on the Russian Soyuz TMA-9. He also served as International
Space Station commander. He holds several NASA records including longest spaceflight (215
days), most Extravehicular Activities (EVA) or “space walks” (10) and cumulative EVA time (67
hours 40 minutes). He formerly served as President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.
As a product spokesperson and industry liaison, Mike’s achievements inspire the whole 121C
team to reach for the stars.

Chief Technology Officer: Jaysen Harris has many years of entrepreneurial experience in
several startups. He is experienced in implementation systems throughout organizations large
and small, including several major projects in the IT Field. Jaysen is also experienced in web,
ecommerce and app development.

Director, Business Development: Peter Latteier has an MBA from the University of Southern
California and a BS in Manufacturing Engineering from BYU. He has experience in business
development, sales and process improvement and is a certified 6 Sigma Blackbelt.

Chief Financial Officer: Adrian Stern CPA, CFE, CFF, CRFA, CICA, is an adjunct professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He is also a founding partner of the firm Clumeck, Stern, Schenkelberg & Getzoff and Chairman of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.

Risks and challenges

Leveraging some fantastic support from space and skate industry partners along with resources provided by the incredible USC network, we’ve minimized the risk and challenges for this venture. The Afterburner follows on the success of our July 2015 Aileron Kickstarter and our August 2016 Rover Kickstarter.

Like both boards before, the Afterburner was designed by skaters and iteratively improved via extensive testing around campus and downhill. This design and the product positioning was validated through the use of a diligent process of customer discovery. We are ready to take on large-scale production.

Every new process faces challenges. 121C is the only firm that has ever made a high volume production skateboard out of 100% aerospace grade prepreg carbon fiber. Our high-tech style and performance are radical departures from tradition.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

Afterburner - Deck Only - Early Bird

Help us get off to a great start! Get your very own pure carbon fiber Afterburner longboard designed with wheel to wheel camber allowing for incredibly responsive turning. This deck is made with actual rocket carbon fiber.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $350 or more
About $350

Aileron - Complete

Want to support our campaign but love our original Pure Carbon Aileron complete package? This will be the first set of backer rewards to go out as soon as the campaign closes and the backer surveys come back. (This is the same board as available on the website)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $400 or more
About $400

Afterburner - Complete - Early Bird

Help us get off to a great start! Get your very own pure carbon fiber Afterburner longboard designed with wheel to wheel camber allowing for incredibly responsive turning. This deck is made with actual rocket carbon fiber and complete with your choice of wheels, Randal III 180mm trucks and Oust Bearings.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $425 or more
About $425

Afterburner - Complete

Get your very own pure carbon fiber Afterburner longboard designed with wheel to wheel camber allowing for incredibly responsive turning. This deck is made with actual rocket carbon fiber and complete with your choice of wheels, Randal III 180mm trucks and Oust Bearings.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

Afterburner "Gold Edition" - Complete

Our ultimate complete, KEVLAR fiber constructed, full wheel to wheel cambered performance long board made right here at our 121C factory. Outfitted with Randal III 180 mm American made trucks, and the Oust American made precision bearings. Connect to the road surface with a choice between the 70mm Fireball Incendos or 70mm Sharkwheels. The perfect combination of performance and beauty.